Marisa Tomei

Reviews

She Came to Me

She Came to Me has the feel of a 2000s-era quirky indie without feeling like a pandering throwback.  The characters are eccentric weirdos, the filmmaking is aware of its cleverness, the situational comedy is purposely absurd but meaningful, and it’s all in the name of romance.

Reviews

The King of Staten Island

The King of Staten Island is another win for director Judd Apatow, who last left movie goers with his career-best work in Trainwreck.  It appears, though, that the filmmaker was preparing for The King of Staten Island with Trainwreck.  Just as he gave comedienne Amy Schumer a platform to expand on her own stand-up about her self-consciousness with the opposite sex, he gives SNL comic Pete Davidson this movie to explore his upbringing in this,…

Reviews

The First Purge

The Purge wasn’t a typical horror film.  It was an intense bottle film that found ways to give movie goers the heebie-jeebies by poking holes in assumably safe conditions.  It also showcased nimble newcomer James DeMonaco, a skillful director who could use paranoia and predictability to deliver an engrossing movie.  DeMonaco directed the next two Purge movies – films I never saw but I’ve been eager to catch up with.  Hopefully, those films are better…

Reviews

Loitering with Intent

By: Mark Barber Loitering with Intent has all the right ingredients for a compelling short film.  Unfortunately, it has been unnecessarily bloated into an 80-minute feature. Raphael (Ivan Martin) and Dominic (Michael Godere) are two struggling actor-writers who are commissioned to write the screenplay for a low-budget Chandleresque noir film.  The screenplay subplot is quickly dropped once the two are settled in their writing retreat: the cottage they occupy suddenly becomes a festering nightmare of…

Reviews

Love Is Strange

By: Addison Wylie There’s an aristocratic quality to Love Is Strange.  Everyone is nicely dressed in houses and restaurants that could all be rated five-stars.  Characters laugh at high-brow jokes and mild-mannerly talk about “the classics”.  Love Is Strange is a film so tidy, that you kind of want to scowl at it.  But, the film is far too sweet and performed with accomplishment to feel such resentment towards Ira Sachs’ film. Ben and George…